Burch: Independence Day madness

Thursday, July 5, 2012 at 10:05pm

By Michael R. Burch

The birth pangs of Tennessee and the United States were virtually simultaneous. In 1775, working for the Transylvania Company, Daniel Boone and a group of 30 axmen hacked out a trail called the Wilderness Road across the Cumberland Gap, opening up the western land for settlement. So when the United States was formally created on July 4, 1776, the path had been blazed for approximately 300,000 settlers to enter the new territory over the next 30 years.

Many of the early settlers came to Tennessee seeking freedom. They fought for independence from King George III, who was called a despot by some of the founding fathers and mad by others.

Tennessee earned the nickname “Volunteer State” after hundreds of Tennessee militiamen helped turn the tide of the Revolutionary War at the 1780 Battle of King’s Mountain. After the war, more than 2,200 veterans elected to settle in Tennessee, which became the first federal territory to be admitted to the Union, in 1796. During the Civil War, Tennessee once again lived up to its nickname, furnishing more soldiers for the Confederate army than any other state, and more soldiers for the Union army than any other Southern state.

Today most Tennesseans claim to be free as they celebrate Independence Day, but I have my reservations. Did we escape the clutches of mad King George, only to bow down to other irrational tyrants, such as:

King Romney the Elect. All indications are that if Mitt Romney is elected president, he will do everything in his child-of-privilege power to favor the 1 percent over the 99 percent, leaving millions of elderly, poor and disadvantaged Americans with hastily shredded safety nets.

King Pain. It also seems likely that Republicans in their current lost-marble madness will try to junk the Affordable Care Act without bothering to provide real-world solutions. To these self-professed Christians, helping the sick, elderly and poor is “socialism,” even though that’s exactly what Jesus Christ spent most of his time doing, asking nothing in return.

King War. If Israel attacks Iran, the U.S. could end up fighting its third major war in a decade. But we are already drowning in debt, much of it due to unfunded war spending. Even if the new war goes well, which seems unlikely, our country might go bankrupt before it’s over.

King Oil. Depending on oil for energy makes war more likely, because the lowest-cost oil is in the Middle East. But even if we can purchase enough oil peacefully at reasonable prices, the real cost remains far too high because polar ice caps and glaciers are melting at a rapid pace. Rising sea levels appear to be indisputable proof that the overall temperature of the earth is increasing. But American politicians — especially Republicans — seem to be impervious to scientific facts and reason.

King Ignorance. We the people have no one to blame but ourselves. We willingly believe lies, such as the one about 9/11 being the result of Muslims hating our lifestyles and values, when in reality the terrorists who were captured clearly said that the attacks were due to the injustices of Israel and the U.S. in the Middle East. Thus, we seem doomed to fight unnecessary, unwinnable wars, rather than simply ending the injustices that cause other people to attack us.

King Kong. The biggest brute on the block is our gargantuan government, which consumes a large percentage of everything we make, wastes mega-billions, and still manages to run up humongous debts. And this King Kong obviously believes that bigger is better, as it constantly sucks up to Big Oil, Big Banks, Big Business, and anyone else with Big Bucks. Republicans who claim they want “smaller government” cannot be believed, because their warmongering puts more power in our bloated federal government’s hands. There is only one true conservative left in the GOP: Ron Paul, a lone voice crying in the wilderness that wars and excessive military spending are bankrupting our nation.

How long can Americans afford to serve so many insane masters? How can we end this Independence Day madness? I believe the path back to sanity is to vote the Republican lackeys of the super-rich out of office, then put pressure on Democrats to end the wars and force the government to start living within the American taxpayers’ means.

Michael R. Burch is a Nashville-based editor and publisher of Holocaust poetry and other “things literary” at www.thehypertexts.com.

136 Comments on this post:

By:BenDover on 7/6/12 at 2:55

What is your problem with simple facts of the matter, brrrrk?

I just pointed out a simple fact that everyone knows that poor people are less likely to practice self control about what they eat and in how they live their lives. It's a causal relationship between a lack of self discipline and poverty.

It took all of ten seconds to find a peer reviewed academic publication to support it.

http://www.pnas.org/content/108/7/2693.full

By:Rasputin72 on 7/6/12 at 3:06

BENDOVER........Brrrk will have a difficult time with your 3:55, He has been taught that all his life everything going against him is racism. Academic studies are a little foreign to him.

By:BenDover on 7/6/12 at 3:07

At the age of 32 y, children with poor self-control were less financially planful. Compared with other 32-y-olds, they were less likely to save and had acquired fewer financial building blocks for the future (e.g., home ownership, investment funds, retirement plans). Children with poor self-control were also struggling financially in adulthood. They reported more money-management difficulties and had accumulated more credit problems (Table 1). Poor self-control in childhood was a stronger predictor of these financial difficulties than study members’ social class origins and IQ. This longitudinal link between self-control and self-reported financial problems was verified by informants who knew them well. As adults, children with poor self-control were rated by their informants as poor money managers.

By:slacker on 7/6/12 at 3:18

A poor chubby guy walks into a gay piano bar munching on a ding-dong ... bartender immediately tosses his pauper arse out the door...

By:Rasputin72 on 7/6/12 at 3:26

SLACKER.........I have a newly found respect for your wit and ability to convey it to the public. In light of all the past six or seven posts that deal with poverty and worthless humanity along comes your 4:18 to bring levity to it all. Brillant absolutely brillant!

By:yogiman on 7/6/12 at 3:29

There is a few wealthy people that have become wealthy mostly from hard work. They develop a knowledge that guides them to wealth though knowledge.

The major difference between the rich and poor though, brrrrk, is education. How many poor college graduates do you know? How many poor high school graduates do you know?

But how many poor grade school dropouts do you know? A basic education is a great thing to have.

By:brrrrk on 7/6/12 at 3:29

BenDover said

"It took all of ten seconds to find a peer reviewed academic publication to support it."

So, you're going to use a study that looks at primarily childhood self-control as a means of painting an entire segment of the community? Really? And I'm curious, how do they define self control and under what conditions are they tested. This is a reach at best.

By:BenDover on 7/6/12 at 3:38

brrrrk, your confirmation biases and self delusions are showing.

By:brrrrk on 7/6/12 at 3:44

yogiman said

"The major difference between the rich and poor though, brrrrk, is education."

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Mary Kay Ash, Richard Branson, Coco Chanel, Simon Cowell, Michael Dell, Barry Diller, Walt Disney, Debbi Fields, Henry Ford, Milton Hershey, Rachael Ray, Ty Warner, Frank Lloyd Wright.... what do they all have in common? None of them went to college (well at least for long in some cases). Hell, Frank Lloyd Wright, the most revered architect in American history, didn't even go to high school.

By:Rasputin72 on 7/6/12 at 3:46

BENDOVER........I hardly think BRRRK is ready for you. If he believes these studies his entire life has been a lie.

By:brrrrk on 7/6/12 at 3:46

BenDover said

"brrrrk, your confirmation biases and self delusions are showing."

Karma dude... I have no concerns. :-)

By:BenDover on 7/6/12 at 4:01

Tru dat, Raspy.

Y'all have a nice weekend in case I get a life or something and don't check back 'til Monday or so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4

By:Mike Burch on 7/6/12 at 4:25

Nemo, you asked: "Mike, how many of the so called War Hawks are just Chicken Hawks, wanting us to go to war? Will the American public go for a war so close to the last two wars?"

I don't think the American public wants to go to war with Iran. But our war hawks will use the religious idea that American Christians always have to support Israel to justify the war, even though Israel is in no immediate danger from Iran, and Israeli intelligence has clearly warned the world to call Bibi's Bluff.

I think it's pretty clear that the only people who want war are right-wing Americans and right-wing Israelis. They are as mad as hatters, and there are enough religious fanatics who also want war for them to get away with doing to Iran what was done to Iraq. I have no doubt that the results will be as bad, or worse, and we will end up with trillions of dollars more in debt.

Republicans will send more brave young Americans to die in another unwinnable, unnecessary war, while they and their rich masters cower in fear at the thought of giving up tax cuts.

Romney seems to have $30 million to $101 million dollar in offshore Cayman Island and Bermuda tax shelters. Neither he nor his children served in the military. But he and his buddy Bibi the Merciless will damn sure send our children to die in another war, and saddle us with the bills.

Anyone who votes for Romney and Republicans is voting for more war, bigger government and national bankruptcy.

Mike

By:yogiman on 7/6/12 at 4:39

Mike,

The only war I have ever known the American public wanting to get involved in was WWII after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

But then, we haven't been in a war since WWII. They've only been "conflicts". Of course people get killed in those conflicts but they aren't official wars.

By:Mike Burch on 7/6/12 at 4:42

BenDover,

I own and operate a computer software company. I've made a lot of money over the last 30 years, but I also developed good powers of logic because computer programs are pure logic. My powers of logic help me see what Republicans want, how they go about getting what they want, and why they are going to destroy our nation and economy if we don't stop them.

I am all for making people work rather than giving them handouts. We could easily require people who are unemployed to work for the government, file, answer the phone, pick up garbage, etc. Why not have an "everyone works" policy that encourages people who are able to get better jobs, to do so? Give them hard work and pay them low wages, and if they can find better jobs, they will. if not, they can help defray the costs of aiding them.

But people being lazy and taking advantage of the system is not the main problem we face. The main problem we face is that 1% of the people now control most of our nation's wealth, and if the trend continues they will own more and more of everything, while the working class works harder and harder and owns less and less. This is unfair, and a recipe for disaster, because the working class spends most of what it makes, while the rich hoard most of what they make, especially in a recession when the markets are depressed. Companies like Apple and Microsoft are sitting on huge amounts of cash, rather than hiring more people.

You may favor the current system because you make more money than the average person, but what happens when the economy implodes, or the people finally revolt? We need a much fairer economic system that is sustainable. The Republicans are killing the average worker.

Such an unfair system is the road to ruin. And Republican warmongering is wasting thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. Spending money on wars rather than the ecology threatens our lives, and our children's and our grandchildren's.

There is an old saw about being penny wise and pound foolish. If you vote for Republicans thinking to save small amounts of money on taxes, while they destroy the planet through warmongering and refusing to spend money on the ecology, do you really think you will come out ahead, personally?

By:Mike Burch on 7/6/12 at 4:48

Yogi,

If you watched the Republican presidential debates, when Ron Paul about the need to avoid more wars because we can't afford them, people booed. When Romney, Santorum and Gingrich spoke about attacking Iran, people cheered.

The reason for attacking Iran is the same reason we attacked Iraq: WMDs that do not exist and may never exist. Even if they did exist, Iran can't use them because Israel and the US would wipe Iran from the face of the earth if it ever used nukes.

But plenty of Republicans want war. Intelligent people don't, but intelligent people no longer vote for Republicans. I stopped voting for Republicans the day I realized the party has gone mad.

Mike

By:yogiman on 7/6/12 at 4:50

Mike,

To be blunt, you don't know what Mitt Romney has in wealth. And you're making a remark about him putting the US into war with Iran for Israel's benefit.

Don't be surprised if your man Barry doesn't put us into war with Iran in October if not late September. He will do anything possible to stay in power.

And a point you might check: I don't know if it's correct, but I've read there has been more service men killed in his 3 1/2 year tenure than there was in Bush's 8 years.

And he's "keeping" us out of war?

By:Mike Burch on 7/6/12 at 5:12

Yogi,

The estimates I cited came from credible sources like the Wall Street Journal and similar publications.

No one knows the exact figures, but we know the figures are substantial because under pressure Romney disclosed his tax returns. Most IRA are in the thousands of dollars because contributions are limited to a few thousand dollars per year, by law. But according to the ranges of numbers Romney disclosed himself, he has up to $101 million dollars in his offshore IRAs.

Unless he can explain such extraordinary holdings in accounts meant for small retirement funds, it seems obvious that he has done something wrong, or highly questionable. And he confirmed this himself, by squirming like a fish out of water when he was asked to disclose his tax returns.

Barack Obama voted against the invasion of Iraq. He is trying to use diplomacy with Iran. But Republicans and right wing Israelis are pushing for war with Iran. At the Republican debates, people booed Ron Paul when he spoke about the need for peace, and they cheered the other candidates when they spoke about war with Iran.

I think you are letting your dislike for President Obama blind you to the much greater danger to our country: Republican insanity.

By:Ask01 on 7/6/12 at 5:18

budlight, allow me to clarify my statement.

You are correct, a business cannot remain open if there is no profit.

My complaint was about the disproportionately high compensation awarded to upper management in mny corporations.

While I don't have firgures on corporations senior executive pay, and almost surely would not trust any listing found on the internet, I feel fairly certain the dollar amount is substantial.

If a business claims the need to close stores, throwing many citizens into unemployment, then in the same year posts record profits and awards obscene bonuses to the upper tier, I have to believe if the senior leadership had not taken a raise or bonuses, they would still be living very comfortably, and the workers, likely earning less in a week than a CEO does on a bathroom break, would still be employed.

My concept may be flawed according to business models and schools, but I believe if a business creates jobs, even if corporate management has to suffer through without a raise or bonuses, this would put people to work and allow them to spend money boosting the economy, and if all businesses would follow suit, keep every body working, money continues to flow into businesses. As it is now many don't have the money to spend.

I confess I am not a financial genius, but I can conceive a scenario in which businesses create jobs, allowing people to spend, thereby kick starting the economy, or, businesses and corporate management can continue to hoard and hide profits, resulting in paying the same, or more money in taxes to the government to support those out of work.

Seems a simple choice.

Or the peasants could revolt and decide the situation for big business.

By:Mike Burch on 7/6/12 at 5:41

brrrrk,

I recently read an article that made the interesting point that bad thinking INCREASES when conservatives have more education. This is probably because Republicans are more sheeplike that independent thinkers. They read the Bible, or the Constitution, and submit to a higher authority like serfs submitting to a king. If the Southern Baptist Church says that the Bible says that God will forgive heterosexuals of all their sins, but that homosexuals will go to hell, instead of asking if this is fair, they jump on the bandwagon and discriminate against homosexuals. Not so long ago they did the same thing to black Americans, enslaving them because the Bible commands and condones slavery. Before that, they burned women at the stake as witches, because a verse in the Bible says not to allow a witch to live.

Did educated Southern conservatives ever stop to ask if slavery was wrong? It seems most of them just believed whatever they were told to believe.

But people who were more liberal (i.e., who thought independently), reading the same Bible, realized that slavery was evil, and opposed it.

So education may help conservatives make more money, but it doesn't lead them to better thinking. Global warming is the perfect example. Sea levels are rising. Why? Because glaciers and polar ice caps are melting. Why? Because the overall temperature of the earth is getting hotter.

Rising sea levels are the only confirmation we need that the overall temperature of the earth is rising. Of course we can also use our eyes and see that glaciers are receding and polar bears are swimming around in the northern oceans looking for ice that is rapidly vanishing. But rising sea levels alone confirm that larger amounts of ice are becoming water than in the recent past.

But Republicans seem to be immune to facts and logic. Someone in a position of authority lies to them, and says the whole thing is a hoax, and they just believe whatever they are told, without thinking for themselves. Even if you explain why they are wrong, they will still believe whatever they have been told to believe.

This sheeplike behavior led Germans to put their trust in the lies of Hitler and the Nazis. It also led to American slavery, the Civil War, and the war in Vietnam (fought because of the Domino Theory, that the whole world would become communist if South Vietnam fell).

Did the whole world become communist when South Vietnam fell? Did all the nations of the earth topple like dominoes, to communism? Of course not. And yet today Americans believe the same thing, that if we don't defeat a small number of Islamic extremists, they will "take over the world." But there are only a few hardcore members of Al Qaeda. They can blow up buildings, but they don't have the numbers, or the navies, air support, amphibious landing vehicles, etc., that it would take to conquer even a single European nation, much less the US, or the world.

So we waste thousands of lives and trillions of dollars fighting needless, unwinnable wars. The South Vietnamese were not trying to take over the world. They wanted to expel foreign invaders from their country. Al Qaeda is too small to take over any major nation, much less the US or the world. The real battle is with the Taliban, but the Taliban is not trying to take over the world, just expel foreign invaders, like the South Vietnamese.

So education doesn't help conservatives, because they don't consider facts or use logic. They read a book like the Bible, or listen to Fox News, and then they do whatever someone else tells them to do.

Mike

By:BenDover on 7/6/12 at 5:48

Let's go on 'pure logic' then there Mike. I've been programming for 30+ years myself so I've got a little experience in that as well.

One thing I used to do a lot though was rip into a program and start tearing it apart saying 'what did they do that for?' and 'what an idiot!'... only to discover later that there was a good reason they did it the way they did. Will you admit that that has ever happened to you or are you, in fact, so perfect that you've never experienced it before?

In my case there's a life lesson there... as I got through my 20's and my early 30's I was forced to realize that everyone else is not an idiot. Just because they didn't do it the way I (a really sharp guy, imho) first imagined didn't mean they were wrong or even stupid. Often it meant I hadn't had the experience that went into their earlier decision that they even often learned the hard way.

That's one of the reasons now I have trust in our culture as it is what got us where we are and it's what worked. My observations of it sometimes cause me to say again 'what did they do that for?' but I don't go to that stage of saying 'what an idiot!' until I dig in a little bit and understand the other perspective (I know that invites your whole bullshit line about you being a Reagan supporter but lets skip it this time)... but anyway... there are a lot of long forgotten lessons sewn into our culture and religious traditions that have got us where we are and ripping it out by the roots is folly.

Locke's version of liberty, to which Jefferson fully subscribed involved all of the fundamental positions I tend to defend here... limited government being essential to that with liberty being the keystone.

"Everyone else is an idiot" is a flawed, sophomoric, arrogant and, quite frankly, immature ideology that ignores the ideas and ideals that got us to where we are. As for me I say "dance with the one who brung ya" ... at least show a little respect for what has worked in the past.

By:yogiman on 7/6/12 at 7:48

Mike,

Regardless of where you got your information about Romney's wealth: Who's damn business is it? He simply acted like a normal human being in saving all he earned to spend for himself.

But then, I'm sure you would have given all you thought your government wanted to give to someone else... for you.

I dislike Barack Obama being in that office because he is in it illegally. If he was in it legally you wouldn't have "heard" one word from me about it except I might say: Boy, did we screw up this time! We need to get him out of there, but legally on the next election.

And my vote for, or against, him would not be based on race but only if he could convince me he was the man for the job or not.

By:Rasputin72 on 7/7/12 at 1:07

Like Martin Luther King,I have been to the mountaintop. I have concluded after that strenuous climb that good health and wealth are as close to being in heaven as any human dead or alive will ever get.

It's amazing the amount of disrespect given to those who want to be self
reliant in their lives, asking only to be given a fair chance and to be left
the heck alone by so many do gooders of this country that want to mamma
them. By the 10th grade or sooner you can tell who they are and predict
where "Most" others will go and choices they will make of their lives!
The message of skip your morals and values, no matter the source of
those values, and vote your self-interest! In other words if your poor, for
lack of effort , or bad luck and fortunate, vote for the party that will nurse
and take care of you! Lack of effort or even attempting such is the
direction of an ever larger and larger portion of this population!

By:Loner on 7/7/12 at 7:12

Ben reveals his mentoring material: "Locke's version of liberty, to which Jefferson fully subscribed involved all of the fundamental positions I tend to defend here... limited government being essential to that with liberty being the keystone."

"Limited government"? You mean limits on government's role in providing the butter; but no limits on the government's role in producing the guns?

It's the old conundrum - providing for the national defense versus promoting the general welfare - Guns vs Butter. Both governmental roles are authorized and mandated by the Constitution. Striking the right balance is the tough part.

As for Thomas Jefferson, the man was educated and articulate ; but like everyone else on this planet, he was a victim of self-bullshitization. For all the lofty verbiage about all men being created equal, his beliefs and actions concerning the American native peoples and African Negro slaves illustrate how a man with high ideals can easily rationalize pragmatic exceptions to those lofty notions.

Jefferson was not an advocate for women's suffrage, to my knowledge...his concept of liberty was rather limited, in my humble opinion.

Adapting flawed Jeffersonian reasoning to solve today's social problems is fraught with danger, Ben.....take Locke & Jefferson with a grain of salt, my friend. To me, Locke was to economics as Jules Verne is to science....interesting...creative...almost quaint...but not of much practical value today...IMO.

By:Captain Nemo on 7/7/12 at 9:32

By: Rasputin72 on 7/7/12 at 2:07
Like Martin Luther King,I have been to the mountaintop. I have concluded after that strenuous climb that good health and wealth are as close to being in heaven as any human dead or alive will ever get.

It looks as if Rasputin thinks Gods is in the Bank vault. You got to have money to get to heaven.

By:Captain Nemo on 7/7/12 at 9:48

Our dear partner gov says the left and poor are disrespect for those who are self reliant and goes on to whines about that they will vote for the party that will nurse and take care of you! Yet gov does not give a second thought that the party he worships will take every advantage to keep the oppressed down and take there money.

Hypocritical is thy anthem of the right.

By:yogiman on 7/7/12 at 10:36

Loner,

Considering our founders didn't get the same "brand" of education we've gotten, and the fact in improves every year, we should be smarter than they were. But I believe we have become much more stupid than they by being so willing for a bunch of idiots (legislatures) to control our nation.

They brought slaves into the nation because the world was looked at much different then. The people were also looked at much differently. They apparently didn't believe all men were created equal and the black people were slaves. They must have wondered how the Negroes were created back then until they found out when their women slaves had their babies.

Hell, not too long before our founders, the people didn't even know the world was round.

Loner...I'm just going to rest here on my earlier commentary. Good salvo... Have a great night guys...

By:govskeptic on 7/8/12 at 8:31

Dear Capt: I worship no party and surely wish to keep not a single person
oppressed! Your incorrect and delusional interpretation of my
last remarks were just the opposite of what was stated. My
suggestion was for a fair chance and education for all. It
concluded with help for most needy, but stop pampering the
lazy, uninspired, and criminal elements with a healthy taxpayer
check every month! A conclusion I suppose you disagree with!

By:Ask01 on 7/8/12 at 9:47

I would like to offer a bit of insight.

Often, it appears those ranting about members of society leeching off the working class, while contributing nothing, lump into the same pile those unemployed through no fault of their own, and unable to, despite honest effort, find further employment.

I have total empathy for those falling into the category, unemployed, unable to find work, as I have been in that position. I do, for the record, resent the implication this group bears even a passing resemblence to the professional, chronic unemployed.

I once was numbered among those who arrogantly looked down upon anyone out of work for whatever reason. I was insulated from reality by my illusion of job security. Additionally, I also embraced, foolishly I suppose, the myth I could find a job anywhere, anytime. I had worked since I was 16, twenty plus years in the military, retired, good work ethic and references, older, more stable, all the proper squares were filled.

I was wrong. Nearly three years worth of wrong, I might add. I suppose being over 50, (never you mind how much over) didn't help, and I discovered this new found support for former military was all so much hogwash, a great public relations sound bite, but not necessarily praticed as much as preached. Or perhaps the employers I approached were only interested in younger, more current, exploitable, and picture worthy vets.

To tie this rant together, both sides, those in favor of more social programs and support for the less fortunate, picturing those opposed as knuckle dragging, screw the poor Neanderthals, and those advocating slashing benefit programs, seeming to support survival of the fittest, imagining anyone drawing benefits lounging in air conditioned comfort, sipping champagne and eating caviar while they slave away. need to reverse the rectal cranial inversion, and smell fresh air.

Not everyone unemployed drawing benefits is a worthless cancer on society. On that same note, not everyone is actually actively seeking work, and some are, in fact happy to use whatever ruse works to avoid honest work.

It is not a crime or socialist behavior for workers to expect an honest living wage, nor is it a crime or facist elitism for employers to expect an honest days work.

Both sides on this question need to employ a little empathy, and realize their goals are not exclusive.

One common enemy is those who, regardless wages offered, or conditions provided, would not work under any circumstances, prefering to drain what they can from society.

Another adversary is the truly greedy capitalist who cares nothing for workers and actively seeks to cheat society out of their fair share.

Workers and employers need to arrive at equally advantageous agreements, preferably without the intervention of lawyers and unions, who will always escalate demands to gain a better bargaining position, and perhaps as importantly, win points for their supporters and ensure a lengthy, profitable, enagaement.

I realize this may seem a little disjointed, but I do thank you for your patience.

By:Captain Nemo on 7/8/12 at 12:48

Rasputin why don’t you tell me about heave, are you too good for such a mundane task?

gov, I don’t think I misunderstood your post.. Your post says a lot about you attitude toward people of less education or wealth. “Lack of effort” “even attempting such direction” You have painted all of less fortune (money or education skills) with the same brush stroke.

Maybe my saying that you worship the GOP is painting you with broad brush on my part, but you do walk the path of the privileged far right.

By:Captain Nemo on 7/8/12 at 12:52

Ask01, if only they would in the shoes of someone misfortune.

By:acluu on 7/9/12 at 4:25

By: yogiman on 7/7/12 at 11:36
"Hell, not too long before our founders, the people didn't even know the world was round".

Not true yogi..

No one really held to a flat Earth belief. That's a myth skeptics put forward later on. Columbus knew it was round. Aristotle knew it was round. The early church knew it was round. Aquinas knew it was round. Heck. A lot of them could even tell you the circumference.